|
Event
ON THE SPECTRUM: A Love Story About Two Young People With Autism
http://www.meetup.com/Spectrumshows/events/41141482/
ON THE SPECTRUM: A Love Story About Two Young People With Autism
Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 7:30 PM
The Soho Gallery for Digital Art
138 Sullivan St.,New York,NY(mapmap )
Sullivan St. Between Prince and Houston, New York, NY 10012 212 228-2810
ON THE SPECTRUM: projected LIVE from the internet onto our 103" Movie Screen:
Autism and romance mix in live-via-Internet in 'On the Spectrum' Admission Free; $5.00 Suggested Donation (at the door) to Reach for the Stars Learning Center, a School for Children with Autism.
ON THE SPECTRUM
Ken LaZebnik's engaging World Premiere On the Spectrum is featured as part of Mixed Blood's Center of The Margins Festival, through November 27th). Commissioned by Mixed Blood Theatre, and directed by its Artistic Director Jack Reuler, this taut drama explores the complex world of living on the spectrum and wrestling with the difficult question: is autism a disability or a difference? It features a fantastic cast that is headed by Skyler Nowinski who plays Cormac (Mac for short), a young man with Asperger's. Through Mr. LaZebnik's terrific script we are rapt by how he demonstrates through Mr. Nowinski and the terrific Laura Robinson (an actor with autism spectrum disorder) the distinctions between life with Asperger's and life with Autism.
When we meet Mac he is in the midst of preparing to study for his LSAT's to go to law school when his world begins to crumble around him as his mother, Elizabeth (played with amazing aplomb by Regina Marie Williams) is on the verge of losing her job. Despite his mother urging him not to get a part-time job to help out, Mac disobeys her. He connects online with Ms. Robinson's Iris who has Autism and decides to hire him to work on her web site. As their working relationship continues to grow a love story begins to develop between the two of them that feels both honest and authentic. One of the most poignant moments in this piece happens when Cormac's character must meet Iris face-to-face who is initially embarrassed to meet him because she is "lower functioning" than he is. This was one of the most touching moments I had seen on stage in quite a while and encapsulated the physical and emotional roller coaster that love is within the fragility of living on the spectrum.
Because the love story is the focal point of the story the conflict regarding Elizabeth losing her job begins to lose a bit of steam towards the end, but we are so engaged by Mac and Iris that this is forgivable. According to the program notes this is the third play that Mr. LaZebnik has done on autism with Mixed Blood Theatre and he demonstrates in this story that just because it's a play about those living on the spectrum it can still be funny as well.
Jack Reuler's keen direction keeps the play moving apace with the fantastic cast while Daniel Roth's fabulous projection design in conjunction with the sound design by Katharine Horowitz help to create the world of not only Iris's web site known as "The Otherworld", but also it is the stand-in for the world that she lives in inside her apartment away from the world hiding behind her online identity and her Proloquo machine until Mac comes into her life and they each force each other out of their comfort zones.
On the Spectrum is a standout in the Center of the Margins Festival. This play is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. Recommended.
|
|
 |
LocationSoHo Gallery for Digital Art (View)
138 Sullivan St.
New York, NY 10012
United States
Categories
Contact
|
